Whiz Kids: Katie, Abby, Lucie and Tommy Meehan and Claire and Courtney Graves

Name:  Katie, Abby, Lucie and Tommy Meehan and Claire and Courtney Graves 

Accomplishments:  Tires, pumpkins, green peppers, large and small pieces of wood and flowers littered the Madison Surf Club landscape as a result of Tropical Storm Irene.  This is what the Meehan family and friends, Claire and Courtney Graves, found when they arrived, as soon as the storm subsided and the roads were passable.  It took them no time at all to get to work picking up the area and trying to restore its beauty.

Key to Awesomeness:    Upon seeing the wood trim around the Surf Club point washed away, the ramps leading to the beach smashed, the plantings surrounding the memorial benches uprooted and scattered and the benches knocked over the Meehan family knew they had to get to work and try to restore their beloved Surf Club. 

“It was a group idea,” said Betsy Meehan.  “It was my idea, with my kids, because we were sad.  We saw how sad it was,” she said, talking about the damage Irene left in her wake.

So, armed with a shovel, Katie, Abby, Lucie, and Tommy Meehan, along with their mom, Betsy, and friends, Claire and Courtney Graves got to work cleaning up.  

The work was for not only for them, but for all area residents who enjoy what the Surf Club has to offer.  “It’s definitely a really popular place,” said Claire Graves.   “Whenever I go there I see at least one person I know,” she added.

Graves says she goes to the surf club during the summer “a lot!”  She likes to “go swimming, usually I’ll play with my little sister and make sand castles or we’ll go walking around the beach and go on the playground there.”

For four hours the group worked.   “We tried as best we could, with the shovel that we had, to recover and turn over the Shasta Daisies and the Montauk Daisies and to put things back together.  We picked up some of the wood that we could – the big, big pieces of course we didn’t,” said Betsy.

“They were thinking about others and how hard it was to get down (to the beach) and how dangerous it would be for others,” said Betsy.  “They were thinking about what an impact this (Irene) was on the beach and on the town. “

“I know that the Surf Club is, even for our family, a nice place where we can go and hang out with family," said 14 year old Katie Meehan.

"So we went down there and fixed it so that it’s able to reopen for everyone to go down there."